Triad Stage

Triangle-based musician Jasmé Kelly grew up singing in church choirs and eventually decided to pursue music as an independent musician. Kelly combines her upbringing in gospel with popular blues and soul aesthetics in her new album called "Lady Jasmé."

Each of the Winston-Salem sisters Fiona, Ellie and Jessie Burdette started taking music lessons at five years old. When the youngest sister, Jessie, turned 7, the three decided that it was time to combine their musical talents and form a band--the Dan River Girls. Their music ranges from traditional bluegrass to pop-rock. They released their first album last year and continue to play at venues and festivals around the state.

The pedal steel guitar sits on a stand with foot pedals used to adjust the tension of the strings. The instrument is part of the Sacred Steel musical tradition, which was invented in 1930s-era Pentecostal churches. North Carolina’s only touring Sacred Steel band is The Allen Boys.

Hate crimes targeting Muslims, their mosques and businesses tripled in 2015, according to a study from California State University, San Bernadino. And Islamphobobic rhetoric has been ubiquitous in political discourse since the deadly attacks in Paris and California.

But how are Muslims affected in North Carolina? A new ongoing public series at Greensboro's Scuppernong Books, “Ask a Muslim Anything,” brings together diverse Muslims from the state with other members of their community for an “informal chat about Muslimy things.”

Climate change was a prominent global topic in 2015, with both the Paris climate talks and the Pope’s encyclical stirring up conversation about the future of the planet.

But questions remain about what role businesses and community institutions should play in the ongoing effort. Some say that the Pope’s encyclical speaks to a need for religious leaders to step up in the movement, while others say that the business community needs to take the lead.

The Triad region was a case study for many of North Carolina's top news stories in 2015. Greensboro is part of the lawsuit against the latest round of redistricting in the state. The merger between Reynolds American Inc. and the Lorillard Tobacco Company rocked the local economy. Many of the effects of the 2015 events will carry into the new year.

Retired ministerStimp Hawkins wants to say goodbye before it is too late. The 81-year-old, who has DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) tattooed brazenly across his chest, spends a lot of time thinking about the end of his life and his eventual death.

He hosts monthly meetings called “Café Mortal” and “Death Café” in Greensboro for people to discuss issues related to death and end-of-life concerns. Hawkins recently celebrated his death wish at a decoration party for his cremation casket.

Terry Fritz had two loves for most of his life: playing guitar and woodworking. During a job change in 2006, a friend suggested he marry those two passions as a luthier. Fritz quickly fell in love with the process – the properties of wood necessary for a good guitar, how to fasten the neck, the geometry that shapes the timbre of an acoustic guitar, etc.

North Carolina native Anne-Claire Niver has been singing since she was a young child. After studying music and vocal performance at UNC-Greensboro and traveling the world, she moved home to North Carolina and started work at a family-owned farm near Rougemont.

Each month WUNC's The State of Things travels to Greensboro for a live show at Triad Stage's UpStage Cabaret. The next show is Tuesday, May 19. The live broadcast starts at noon, but please arrive by 11:45 a.m. to be seated. Please RSVP if you plan to attend.

I Don't Do Boxes is a new magazine that explores and documents the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender experience in the southeast United States. The magazine was founded and edited by the youth-led media program QueerLab. Each issue is designed to provide a unique look at what it means to be queer in the South by tackling topics like identifying as LGBTQ in school or the power of documenting LGBTQ voices.

The Genuine is a four-piece band from Winston-Salem. The band originally began as a project of husband and wife Mathew Allivato and Katelyn Allivato née Brouwer, but now includes an electric guitar, piano and percussion. They are one of the many bands performing at Phuzz Phest in Winston-Salem April 17th -19th, and they will preview their festival performance with a live in-studio performance.

Two controversial redistricting bills passed last week in the Senate are headed for debate on the House floor.

Senate Bill 181, introduced by Republican Chad Barefoot of Wake County, modifies the boundaries for Wake County Commissioner Seats. Senate Bill 36, introduced by Republican Trudy Wade of Guilford County, reconfigures the Greensboro City Council to a seven-member body in which the mayor has no voting power. Both bills raise questions about the role of state lawmakers in controlling local governing bodies.

A conversation with North Carolina music journalist and author Eddie Huffman about his new book

Legendary singer-songwriter John Prine is best known for writing "Angel from Montgomery," "Sam Stone," and "Paradise."

His musical career began humbly in the late 1960s while he was still working as a mailman in Illinois. Five decades later, Prine is a Nashville icon who has won a litany of awards, including two Grammys and a lifetime achievement award for songwriting from the Americana Music Association.